INDUSTRY News UNCOVERING THE CHALLENGES OF MAINTENANCE
RS has released the ‘Performance in Focus’ 2024 Maintenance engineering Report in conjunction with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). This is based on findings from a survey that aimed to uncover the challenges facing the profession and its priorities. The survey drew responses from almost 400 maintenance
professionals based in the UK and Ireland. The respondents were from sectors including manufacturing, energy and oil & gas, working in job roles like maintenance engineer and engineering manager. Most respondents came from hands-on or operational roles. The report covers key areas including challenges, strategies and priorities, maintenance maturity and data, and tackling unscheduled downtime.
While attracting talent was a top three issue for maintenance engineers in the 2023 report, staffing fears have risen to the top of the agenda for 2024, with half of respondents now citing this as a prominent concern. More than a third (37 per cent) point to this as their top challenge, rising to 42 per cent for larger organisations. Lydia Amarquaye, education and skills policy lead at the IMechE, isn’t surprised that skills have risen up the agenda. She said: “We need to raise the profile of engineering in schools and help to raise the profile of maintenance, in particular, as a valued part of the mix. Industry needs to take responsibility for developing talent, including developing apprenticeships and helping graduates who join with a broad skill set to gain specific skills for their particular industry.” With a growing requirement for data analysis in the quest for more effective maintenance strategies, lack of data interpretation capabilities presents a challenge. The skill set of the current engineering pool appears not to be catching up with
Online tool helps meet
decarbonisation targets Schneider Electric has created a new Building Decarbonisation Calculator, an online tool that empowers building owners and operators to quickly test and explore a range of Energy and Carbon Conservation Measures (ECCMs), easily identifying their best options based on simulated data. As pressure mounts to meet decarbonisation targets, this solution enables users to efficiently evaluate and prioritise retrofit scenarios, helping them navigate the complexities of balancing cumulative costs and emissions from now through to 2050 to define their best path to net zero. With a dataset of close to 500,000 building performance models that span various building types, sizes, and geographies, the Building Decarbonisation Calculator allows users to assess the carbon and financial return on investment of ECCMs and compare their decarbonisation pathways to New York City’s Local Law 97 fines or the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) pathway. “As regulatory requirements tighten, especially in cities like
New York and Boston as well as in countries like France and the UK, the Building Decarbonisation Calculator is a powerful consultative tool that supports compliance with local mandates, while providing a clear path for operational improvements,” said Mike Kazmierczak, Global Vice President of Digital Energy for Schneider Electric. “This innovative digital tool is designed to assist building owners and operators in reducing emissions, improving energy efficiency, and cutting operational costs, which will ultimately help owners accelerate action and increase the rate at which buildings are being retrofit.”
8 October 2024 | Automation
evolving technology. The report highlighted an increased reliance on Excel
spreadsheets and paper records, with 37 per cent and 59 per cent respectively saying they are still used in-house. However, the report showed that 62 per cent of organisations use computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) – up from 49 per cent the year before – and the use of Excel spreadsheets is most common among firms with low levels of maturity. Only one in five (22 per cent) use enterprise asset management systems, down from 39 per cent in 2023’s report. The nightmare scenario of unscheduled downtime is still all too common, with the average organisation spending 15 hours a week battling it, down from 20 hours last year. The fact it is down by a quarter on last year’s figures is mildly encouraging. However, it still accounts for 24 hours a week for more than one in five (21 per cent) of organisations. The average hourly cost of downtime was higher this year at £5,471.95 (£5,121.81 last year). The biggest single cause of unscheduled downtime was cited as ageing assets, by 29 per cent of respondents, followed by mechanical failure, cited by 21 per cent of respondents. Managing ageing assets is an ongoing challenge for maintenance professionals, according to Richard Jeffers, solutions and technical director at RS. “Businesses don’t want to replace assets simply because they’ve reached a certain age and, as maintenance professionals, they should be focused on how they can maximise the life of an asset, which can increase cash flow for the business,” he said.
The survey findings highlighted that organisations are taking
steps to reduce unscheduled downtime. The full report is available to download from the RS website:
uk.rs-online.com
Digital transformation in probiotic sector
Rockwell Automation has announced that Probiotical S.p.A., a leading Italian probiotics research and manufacturing company, is using the ThingWorx IIoT solution, part of the FactoryTalk InnovationSuite, powered by PTC, as the foundation for its digital transformation.
Driven by rising demand for its natural products and the need
to increase the production at its plant, the company’s digital transformation journey began in 2022. Rockwell Automation was selected to support due to its industry expertise in food supplements, medical devices and drugs, as well as its software solutions and local system integrator support. The ThingWorx solution connects multiple pieces of equipment, ranging from the fermenters to the packaging lines. The solution collects production data and contextualises that with transactional information from the ERP. Production key performance indicators (KPIs), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and real-time and historic trends are analysed and then used to fine tune and manage all the daily production activities. “We needed the right solution with the right level of support, and we needed knowledgeable companies to help us,” said Gianmaria Camanna, COO at Probiotical. “We recognised the capabilities and value of the FactoryTalk® InnovationSuite software, as well as the local system integrator support from Syscons Industries.”
automationmagazine.co.uk
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